


A Hero and His Stuffed Friends

by chilled_ramune



Category: Persona 5
Genre: (for part of the fic), Fluffy, Gen, Gift Exchange, Young Akechi, somewhat angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25194334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chilled_ramune/pseuds/chilled_ramune
Summary: For his third birthday, Goro was given a friend. Years later, after detesting the gift given to him by his mother, he rekindles a spark he thought he had long sense put out.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	A Hero and His Stuffed Friends

**Author's Note:**

> This was for a gift exchange in a Persona server!! The prompt I liked most was something along the lines of Akechi surrounded by stuffed animals, so I used that!!

“Now where could the birthday boy be hiding...? I haven’t seen him allllll morning.”

Tiny three-year-old Goro Akechi giggled from his spot under the coffee table as his mom searched the room for him. He was the master of hide and seek, she’d never find him here. 

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to bring his gift back to the store since he’s disappeared... and who will I eat this big cake with...? I can’t finish it by myself... It’s Goro’s favorite too! He just looooves lemon sooooo much! A shame he can’t have it...”

Wait! He couldn’t lose his present! Or his lemon cake! That’d be the worst thing ever! “I’m here! I’m here!” Goro called, popping out from his hiding place and running to his mom. “I want my gift! And cake! Please please please!” He hopped up and made grabby hands at the shiny white bag his mother was holding, and she chuckled softly. 

“Alright, my cute little prince. Go sit on the couch and I’ll give you your gift,” she said with a gentle, loving smile.

Goro ran to the couch and hopped on it, wiggling a bit as he pulled himself up. It was only a split second after his mother placed the bag in his lap that he began tearing through the yellow tissue paper at a rate so fast and wild, the gift flew out and smacked down next to him. With a soft gasp, Goro grabbed it and looked at it closely.

In his hands was a big red stuffed platypus toy with white stars all over its body. The fabric was soft, and the beans inside gave it the perfect amount of flop for throwing around. “Wow!” Goro cheered as he hopped off the couch to fly the toy around. “He’s so cool!”

His mother laughed as she watched him run around. “You were looking at him at the store last week, so I knew exactly what I needed to get you for your birthday. Do you have a name for him?”

“He’s gotta name himself!” Goro insisted. He looked seriously at the toy. “What’s your name?” After he asked, he brought the platypus’s beak to his ear and nodded understandingly. “He’s Captain Man!” 

“Captain Man...what a nice name! Nice to meet you, Captain Man! Can I call you Cap?” Goro’s mom asked with a polite smile. 

Goro once again listened to the requests of his new friend, nodding as the Captain whispered to him. “He said okay!” He then gasped and pointed behind his mom. “Oh no! Bad guys! Let’s get them, Cap!” Cap flew toward the unseen enemies, and he, Goro, and Goro’s mother formed a team together to fight off all the evil troubling them, if only for a day. 

* * *

The years passed since that day, and each one seemed worse than the last. Goro grew to learn that his mother’s smile hid an unbearable pain that followed her until her last moments, and that the foster homes he was tossed around through as he grew older weren’t as available to celebrate birthdays. He was alone, and soon not even Cap could keep him company. 

With everything that happened over time, Goro grew to loathe Captain Man. Looking at it, looking at the patch embroidered with a G that his mother sewed on its tail, just thinking about it and the weak smile his mother had as she gave him that wretched toy, filled him with so much hate. By the time he was 12, he was too old anyway. He had to focus on his studies. He had to become perfect. (This, however, didn’t stop him from haphazardly replacing one of Cap’s front flippers with some striped fabric when it came off. He may have hated his former companion, but he didn’t want it to live with only 3 feet.) 

Once he was on his own, a grown teenager with a mission of justice and vengeance on his mind, Cap was left to the mercy of Goro’s closet. But at least he wasn’t alone. Goro found himself frequently gifted different stuffed animals from fans. He’d think to himself to throw them away as soon as he was home, but every time, he would just throw them in his closet. I’ll throw it away later, he’d think. There also may have been the occasional toy won from a claw game or two. Totally won by some mysterious guy in a red Featherman hoodie and not Detective Prince Goro Akechi. 

There were only a few though. Not a giant pile in his closet or anything. And he definitely didn’t look at the nonexistent large pile of stuffed animals longingly from time to time. He didn’t want to fall into the pile after a long day or anything. He absolutely wasn’t combing through the pile at this moment, after a long, tiring day in the Metaverse.

Okay, so there were quite a few and he was looking over the pile. He was and he had picked up Captain Man and was looking at him silently. It had been, what, almost 15 years since he got Cap? So many of those were spent hating him but now, he felt like he needed the companionship more than anything. Maybe even the companionship of Cap’s many, many friends he had been living with. It wouldn’t hurt to just lay with them for the night, right?

One by one, Goro removed different stuffed animals from his closet and placed them on his bed. Before long the whole pile had moved and practically made a second mattress on top of his bed. As if someone might be watching him, Goro cautiously hesitated. Could he really allow this...? He looked at the Captain and felt...warm.

No.

This wasn’t right. He couldn’t allow himself this. He was 17, nearly 18 now. He was almost an adult. He had a job. He couldn’t play any more games. He had to focus on his studies. His mission. The reputation he had spent so many years building did not involve playing hero. He was a real hero now. Those games were obsolete. 

He slowly returned the stuffed animals to the closet, ignoring the heavy feeling in his chest. There were just a few left when he stopped and stared at his bed once more. 

Maybe...

“Maybe it’s fine to keep a few,” he sighed to himself. 

He fell face-first onto the bed and sighed once more as he pulled Cap close to him. Memories rushed to him. The days of Captain Man and the great hero Featherman Ranger Crow, fighting bad guys and saving the day... His chest tightened as he squeezed Cap tighter.

“I’m sorry, Cap...” he whispered as if the toy could hear him. “I’m sorry I left you behind for so long...

Within minutes, Goro was fast asleep surrounded by the stuffed animals he couldn’t bring himself to put away.

* * *

Nights continued like that, and each morning Goro woke up with Cap in his arms and other stuffed friends surrounding him, he felt just a little bit better. He was still tired, still stressed, still barely hanging in there, but the stuffed animals made him feel... safer. 

Still, it wasn’t perfect. He still had a few nightmares, still had a few bad days, still had a whole lot of stress. 

After one particularly stressful event of nearly dying and then getting yelled at for falling short of his mission for the day, Goro found himself completely unable to sleep. He still felt better laying down and holding Cap but... he felt like he needed more. He needed something else to calm himself down.

Slowly, he began to move Cap through the air like he always did, ignoring the part of his mind telling him how illogical a flying red platypus really was. 

“Pachooo,” he whispered. “Captain Man, reporting in. I’ll save the world... I’ll be everyone’s hero...”

Slowly, something began to grow in Goro’s chest. A soft, warm feeling, as if something ignited in his chest. Something he thought he long since thought was doused out. 

The warmth of joy. 

He smiled a bit more. “You’re such a cool hero, Captain Man.” His voice was still soft, but there was more emotion in it. “Everyone should be as cool as you.” He stopped and stared at Cap, a small smile forming on his lips. He brought the hero to his chest and hugged him close. That was all he could handle for the day. Too much of this newfound youth felt unnatural. With Cap in his arms, he fell peacefully asleep. 

* * *

“Here comes Captain Man! Ready to save the day!” Over the past few nights, Goro had been building up on playtime with Cap to the point where he could spend a few seconds flying him around the room, just a little. After a minute or two of flying, he fell into bed, hugging the platypus and laughing softly. 

As he laid there, his head turned towards a light blue bear toy with a yellow bowtie. He studied it silently for a second before asking, “Who are you?” In the tone of a nervous child. After a second’s silence, Goro gasped and sat up. “You’re here to take down Captain Man, aren’t you?! Well, we can’t allow that! Come on Captain, we have to defeat him!”

The villainous bear flew to the top of a strangely desk like building and cackled maniacally. “You’ll never stop me, Captain Man! I’ll destroy you and take over the world!”

“That’s what you think, Professor Muffin!” Captain Man retorted. “But I’m not alone! Lemondrop, Tama-chan, let’s take him down!” 

Behind the captain flew a yellow rabbit with flowers and a spiffy-looking black cat. 

“Don’t worry, Captain!” Lemondrop said. “We’ll back you up!”

“We brought the legendary Featherman Ranger Crow as well!” Tama called. 

Featherman Ranger Crow joined the three heroes, and they prepared for an epic battle. Professor Muffin threw a bomb, but the heroes dodged it before it landed, splitting into two pairs. Captain Man and Ranger Crow went to the left, while Tama-chan and Lemondrop went to the right. 

The captain flew in towards Professor Muffin, knocking his small cardboard weapons box to the ground. “Lemondrop! Use your sugar beam!” Ranger Crow called.

Lemondrop charged a beam, and it flew like a ribbon, knocking Professor Muffin to the ground. “Can you pin him, Tama-chan?” She asked. 

With nothing but pure grace, Tama-chan flew on top of Professor Muffin, holding him down so he could no longer terrorize her teammates. Ranger Crow approached his raygun drawn and pointed to Professor Muffin. “Your terror ends here, Professor Muffin,” he said sternly. But for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. “Professor Muffin... why do you do this?” 

“I have to...” Professor Muffin said sadly. “It’s all I know... No one else will have me...”

Ranger Crow’s hesitance grew as he listened to the professor speak. No one else...

“I want to be good... But I can’t... I’m not good... No one wants me...” Muffin’s voice cracked, and Ranger Crow’s vision blurred. “I’m sorry...”

Ranger Crow thought silently. No one would have him... He felt bad... But, bad people can change, right? People can still be heroes, even if they did evil and wrong in the past! Even if they hurt people! Even... even if they killed... They could still work as a team! As friends!

“What if I offered for you to join us? You’re very smart, the technology you make is amazing. We could use you on our team.” Ranger Crow offered a hand to the enemy, smiling gently. “What do you say, will you help us out?”

Tama-chan moved and Professor Muffin slowly rose, putting his little paw in Ranger Crow’s hand. “Alright. I promise I’ll redeem myself. You just have to trust me.” 

“Hooray!” Lemondrop cheered. “We can all be friends now!”

“Let’s go get cake to celebrate!” Tama-chan suggested. “All the lemon cake we can eat!” 

And the team did just that. They sat at a big fancy table together, enjoying more lemon cake than one person could handle alone. They were a happy team, a happy family. 

  
With the fun over and the hour late, Goro laid in bed. He had brought the rest of his stuffed animals- the rest of his friends- out of his closet, and they surrounded him in a warm barrier of safety and rekindled childhood. He held as many as he could in his arms, and felt more comfortable with them than he felt in years. He fell asleep with a smile on his face and had the most pleasant dreams of being a hero with all of his wonderful friends.

From then on out, he found a bit of time each day for his stuffed family and made sure to add to that family regularly. No matter how hard things got, how badly things wore him down, he found joy and safety in finally living the years he denied himself for such a long time. In their world, he was a hero. A hero with a team of friends that loved him and that he loved. Every night, he fell asleep safe and warm with love all around him. Of course, the conditions didn’t stop nightmares or his struggles. He was still hurting but waking up with something to hold made things just a little easier on him. 

**Author's Note:**

> A little fun fact: Cap was actually made by my feyfriend for our RP!!! I loved him so much I knew I needed to use him for this prompt.
> 
> Kudos and comments are appreciated!! Also, check out my writing Tumblr gncyuukimishima if you have something you want written or want to check out some of my other work!! Thank you!!


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